On 10/02/2017 11:03 PM, J. Clarke wrote:
On Mon, 2 Oct 2017 21:05:35 -0400, JBI wrote:

On 10/02/2017 02:17 PM, DerbyDad03 wrote:
On Monday, October 2, 2017 at 11:39:51 AM UTC-4, JBI wrote:
I just wanted to update since I sealed all dome bases with the shellac.
Once I had fans no longer running (to either help dry the dome bases or
for other reasons), within a short time, I could start smelling the moth
balls. I didn't think it was too bad until I was out of the house for
much of the past weekend. When I arrived home, upon opening the door
and entering the house, the smell was overwhelming.

I am disappointed. I carefully coated all bases with at least two coats
of shellac. My guess is that the mothball gases still somehow penetrate
the silicone seal of glass dome to wooden base, or because I couldn't
seal with shellac any wood under the glass dome, perhaps the gas gets
through there too, but originally I thought the outer sealing would stop
it. I guess I only have two choices: 1) cut silicone seals to be able
to open the domes and remove the moth ball bags, then reseal without
moth balls, or, 2) place the complete dome as it is now in a larger,
sealable container. My local Walmart has some large acrylic jars with a
lockable seal. Problem is that, for the size I'd need, they're
expensive. I'm probably going to go with the first option above.

Thanks again for all those who tried to help. I guess it's just not
going to work out this way.


Aren't there any forums for folks like yourself, i.e. hobbyist entomologists?

Perhaps the problem isn't the wood, maybe it's the mothballs. Have you checked with
other groups as far as what they do to accomplish their display/preservation needs?


I tried posting the issues in a couple of the entomology forums I belong
to, but most responses were not to even use the dome, but "Riker
mounts", which are like a shadow box frame except the Riker has a good
seal built in, and then to lock them in a drawer somewhere.

People that have domes often just glue the glass to base and place
nothing inside either to deter pests or moisture. They count on the
seal to do the job of keeping the pests out. I'm probably going to have
to go this route except I'm going to keep active silica gel inside to
keep humidity minimal. As for the moth flakes, I'm just going to have
to remove them. The insects were all toaster oven dried for at least a
week, and then placed into a sealed container with a lot of silica gel
for at least a month. I feel quite confident there won't be any mold
issues and there shouldn't be pests either as long as the silicone seal
is intact.

Just a thought but you might want to consider a lacquer seal instead
of silicone.. Glyptal lacquer is used in high vacuum work--very
little gets past it. Probably not what you want to use--the color is
hideous--but you aren't trying to hold a high vacuum either.



I'm beginning to think that the problem is in fact that the base inside
of the dome wasn't sealed with shellac. I had removed both the domes
and the shadow boxes from the living room and placed them in one of the
bedrooms and closed the door until I had time to redo them. Today, I
decided to redo the domes. One dome came off easily after a cut the
silicone around the base; the other dome glass cracked while removing
it, luckily I had a spare dome glass. This time, I drilled a 3/4" hole
in the bases so I could either discretely add and remove silica gel or
moth flakes, etc. There is an "observation area" on the top side,
within the dome, but carefully placed (as to not be an eyesore), so that
I can see the condition of the silica gel. If it turn pink, I'll just
peel off the aluminum tape I sealed over the hole on the bottom side,
empty the existing silica and replace with new.

With the domes out of the bedroom where I had them stored, I still had
the shadow boxes in the bedroom. When I had to go into the room later
in the day, I didn't notice any moth ball odor unlike when I had the
domes in there too. Since I completely shellac coated the shadow boxes
(all wooden surfaces), I bet it created a good enough seal to keep the
moth gases contained. Perhaps the suggestions were correct that I
should have completely coated the wood underneath the dome as well, but
the problem is that I would have to remove the carefully placed bark and
branches to clear the base.

Well, I'm pretty happy now. At least I can check on the moisture
content by the silica color and easily change it out if I need to. As
long as the seal is tight, pests shouldn't be an issue and mold can be
prevented by keeping silica gel active.